Learning About Family
by Sabo-Writer-Princess
Summary: Maria was having a hard time moving on from her grandfather's death, she has been working on keeping a positive outlook while getting use to the countryside again. Unbeknownst to her she'll soon get a little help from a group that will teach her about moving on and how to let go- based on Hetalia unit manuals
1. Chapter 1

Maria sighed looking off into the distance nothing but forest and grass lay before her, though if she turned around she would see the incline with the road that led out from her house in the small valley- or hollow as the locals called it.

The house was nestled into the small valley hidden away from prying eyes. The tree's surrounded her home and at the lip of the valley was flat land with more trees. One was less likely to get lost in as they were thin and the road could clearly be seen through the trunks. Seeing the road to her home from the main highway would show a simple dirt road with a split. If the person continued going straight while on the dirt road it would lead them down to a pond and an old cabin if they turned left they would be led to her house.

This home while not new to Maria was not originally hers' it belonged to her late grandfather. On his deathbed, he had handed her an envelope, simply saying to her that he had given her his most prized treasure. He told her he loved her dearly and said he would watch over her once he passed.

For a long time, she left the letter unopened ignoring her mother's and father's worried calls not wanting to deal with the world, throwing herself into her work. She spiraled into a deep depression every day and night a repeat of the next.

It wasn't until late December when she finally opened the letter that she kept hidden in her work desk. The memory of first reading the letter came easily and clearly in her mind.

"My dear precious Maria, in this letter is the papers to my deed. This is my most special treasure, this house that I had built with my very two hands for my wife sons and daughters. I now give the house and the surrounding land to you. I know this may seem sudden to you but, you remind me of myself when I was young, lost with no sense of place. I hope that this town and my home help you find yourself. I have no right of you to demand of you to take the house or live within it so you may sell it if you wish but I would imporl-"

Maria at the time couldn't read the rest of the letter, tears quickly blurring her vision, scoffing at his words with no vile bite within the sound. "You idiot I could never sell your house." Once her eyes were dry she had skimmed the rest of the letter, her grandfather saying if life ever became hard for her that he hoped the home he built would serve as her retreat from reality.

That's how Maria ended up here, dropping her job, her friends her whole life to come and live here out in the country once more. It was due to that letter and her grandfather's words snapped her out of her episode. He would never want her to waste her life away at a desk in attempts of drowning her pain, he'd want her to go and find peace. At first, her friends called her insane, her boss even held off on accepting her quitting notice holding onto it for as long as humanly possible before turning it in. She got her last paycheck in the mail and that was it for her. Her friends had claimed her a lost cause and stopped calling her, even her parent's messages slowed. Not that she blamed them, it was her fault, she was ignoring them purposely. After his death they had shown up at her apartment to many times to count to check up on her which left her lashing out. After moving into the old home her parents let her have her space, in the end only sending her paper letters forgoing emails and calls like they had been doing. It did grab her attention at first, no one truly wrote letters anymore, but she hadn't opened the few letters just yet.

Once she drove up to her grandfather's old house she was bombarded by memories; they left a bittersweetness in her heart, leaving her choked up with watery eyes. Though she might have also been choked up from the awful smell coming from the house. The home was to put it lightly a mess. The place had sat empty for months collecting dust, the rotten food in the fridge and the trash that hadn't been taken out being the main cause of the smell.

What was one to expect when a house was left untouched? No one wanted to dare set foot near the place filled to the brim with happy memories turned bitter with his loss?

It took a lot of work to clean it up but soon with a few days work the house was spick and span any and all bugs gone, along with anything rotten. Her grandfather's clothes and other personal items packed up and stored away in the attic to be looked at on a later date. It was then that she decided she'd never let this house fall into that type of disarray ever again. She would preserve those precious memories and make happier new ones with this house.

Working outside was far different from the inside, it was back-breaking work not to mention just how large the land was. It was a lot of work for one person to care for... Thankfully she had taken to the more laborest work like a fish to water. Using the tools in the tool shed to cut the grass pull up weeds and fill in holes on the land. Maria took a great liking to planting seeds, working out in the hot sun soothed her, giving her an escape to her less than happy thoughts while still being productive.

The people from town, although she had known them from her brief time living there as a child; she knows them now on a more personal degree, even making some friendly acquaintances. She was just thankful that the neighboring farm, that was outside of her valley and basically across the street was owned by her childhood friends grandparents. Which meant she wasn't all too desperate for human contact as the women that she affectionately called a tick stuck to her side every Saturday and Sunday when she came to visit her own grandparents.

"HEY MARIA!"

Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Maria snorted, her lips twitching into a smile at her best friends yell.

"What is is Alexandria," she called turning around to watch as the other ran down the steep roads incline and towards her house.

Reaching where Maria sat Alexandria threw herself at her. Thankfully for Maria, the muscles she had worked on over the months helped her catch Alexandria and was able to dig her feet into the ground to keep them from falling over. This scene was a quite common one, her friend throwing herself at her and laughing loudly. In the beginning, the two would fall over but now that she was able to catch her there were fewer scraps and bruises- it a great relief to her.

"Hm, hows my little America~" Maria teased ruffling the woman's pink pixy bob cut. Alexandria huffed letting go at the teasing and tried squirming out of Maria's strong grip huffing at the tease. "I'm nowhere near Americas personality, I'm not that obnoxious and loud! Not to mention I don't eat that many burgers!"

To anyone else in the small town they would have thought the two had gone crazy but they had not; they were just referencing their favorite anime. It had been a while since Maria had watched it, the show being a relic of her childhood. How her two mom's and dad let her get away with watching the mature show she still had no clue. You would think with three parents in the house they would be able to watch over one kid and make sure she didn't see anything too bad. They were just lucky it was Hetalia and not something scar worthy, though she would forever be embarrassed by her twelve-year-old self, telling her mom about the condom joke, from the scene with Russia and America as her momma watched on in horror and her dad choking on his breath.

Alexandria had a look of smug realization on her face at the way her friends face froze. The memory taking hold and making her inwardly cry out in shame at how awkward her younger self was. "With the way your brow is furrowing, you're thinking about the time you told that con-"

"No shut up this never happened and no one is supposed to speak of it. Maria quickly slapped her hand over the other's mouth, silencing her, not wanting to even remotely think on it anymore then she had too.

"Yeah, I just find it funny how innocent you were." The other woman snorted having given up on running away and instead clinging to Maria. "Even when you were eighteen you didn't realize that other scene with Italy and Japan in the bath- you know the one about being a grower or a shower~?" Alexandria was wiggling her eyebrows, a smirk lighting up her face.

"I can only deal with so much second-hand embarrassment in one day Alex, let me be," Maria growled in slight irritation now trying to push Alexandria away from her.

Maria felt very close to blurting out some of the embarrassing memories that they both shared as payback. One of them involving their old romantic relationship, how they would cosplay as different Hetalia characters and make out. Wisely she let that be, they hadn't brought up their dating since breaking up in high school.

She always wondered how they had seemed to easily fit back into the old places of best friends, was it because the romantic intent of their old relationship wasn't the main part? That it was their strong bond as best friends that kept them together? Maybe it was because when they started dating the two had a long talk about if they broke up they wouldn't hold hard feeling to each other or maybe it had to do with how the both of them agreed that they should break up?

Either way, Maria was glad that they were still friends, Alexandria was the best thing to happen to her, her one an only true friend...

"Hey why are you looking at me like that," Alex asked her head cocking to the side in confusion. It was that honest to god look of confusion and how cute the other looked while doing it that had made Maria fall for her in the first place. But that was neither here or now, those feelings were a lifetime ago.

"Nothing nothing shut up," she muttered pushing the other away once more. Maria reframed from looking at her, instead looking up at the blue sky, Alex following her lead eagerly searching for whatever the other saw.

Alex seemed to come to the silent realization that Maria didn't feel like speaking anymore. This caused them to both settle down on the ground, laying in the grass and watching the clouds go by. This peaceful silence was more than okay with Maria, it saved her from trying to come up with conversation when she had nothing more to say.

The sun's warm rays shone down on them leaving Maria in a pleasantly warm haze. This state of being saved her from having to think of what her thoughts meant. What her feelings meant, and the scary thought of still having feelings for her best friend.

Maria sometimes wished that moment's like this could last forever.

* * *

 **Authors note: So, one piece has been put on hold. Why you may ask? Simple my dear followers... NOSTALGIA. Nostalgia for the very things you remember as a child and fanfics you remember reading as a child. I remember I use to adore the whole Hetaliod genre of fanfics so I went back to read over them and some of the manual fanfics. Sadly I started to notice very unfavorable patterns in all these fanfics (and the manuals themselves) that made me a bit more- how you put it- enraged? As you can guess that pattern was sexual harassment, joking about rape, and just the blatant disrespect consent in total.**

 **I felt like a friend of mine explained the reasoning for this being a popular thing- "a lot of it has to do with impressionable minors or even victims of helicopter parenting suddenly finding some bit of freedom to express & explore topics that were considered Taboo™ before. To teens & young adults who are new to relationships, they're still discovering themselves & what they want out of a relationship."**

 **Their words opened up my eyes and it made me take another good look at the fics, the patterns of how the person wrote. It also made me take a good look at my younger self and what I did when I was a child. I had some form for right and wrong due to personal experiences while young, so I may not have gone about joking of rape I still had my own issues. So, in the end, it's a learning experience learning of consent and boundaries and other things-**

 **Now those subjects (sexual harassment etc) are hard to write anyway but to me, the proper way to go about it would be to treat these matters realistically and not write about it as if it's a fun time for everyone involved. There are many ways these things can affect people and the way many people wrote about it, in my opinion, was unrealistic. ie the main character laughing their sexual assault off and not having any lasting effects on them. Another one of the things being "when you put a robot in horny mode he's just going to take the nearest person and go at it" which number one- this is an intelligent AI in the form of a person who has a conscious? Just because they were horny doesn't mean they'd grab some random person and have sex with them. Your run of the mill person would just lock themselves up in their room and masturbate until they were satisfied.**

 **All of my rantings aside you may ask. So what does this mean? What are you going to write?**

 **I want to write something that can in the future have a good influence on the younger kids reading Hetalia fics. To show that a fanfic doesn't need to rely on sexual assault for comedy. There are already too many shows out there that rely on it and make a mockery out of relationships in general. I just want something to show what healthy relationships are, what real human reactions to these subjects are, (ironic I know due to how most of the characters in this fanfic will be androids) what actually happens when you go through something traumatic.**

 **I just want to make something real.**

 **I know many of you probably won't read this, or won't even look at this once noticing it's not one piece but I still want to put this out there. I'm not sure how far I'll get with this, or even if this fanfic will actually get completed. I still want to try so thank you for reading through this and giving this fanfic a chance.**


	2. Chapter 2

The Alex hummed in thought turning her head to look at Maria as she spoke, "We both know that we have to marathon Hetalia now that all these memories are coming up." Those words seemed to spark something in Alex making her jump up in excitement. Giggling and hopping in place a bit she pulled Maria up dragging her towards the house. Maria was still in a sleepy state easily letting herself be dragged along and pushed into her king-sized bed. Yawning she just laid in bed for a moment before sitting up, watching Alex flitter around her bedroom like a hummingbird, searching high and low for the DVD's. Maria was one step ahead of her, leaning over and pulling out her laptop that she kept hidden under her bed opening it and powering it on.

Throwing the DVD case toward her Alex left to go make popcorn leaving Maria to open the DVD case and pop the DVD in. Just seeing the box and the old art made her nostalgic, a dopey smile on her face, remembering the flash games and art she use to look and play religiously. She's just thankful she was never part of that Doitsu cult that took place. She knew a good chunk of the fandom did it as a joke but she was unfortunate enough to meet people that were dead serious about it. She may like Germany but she wouldn't go as far as the serious cultest did.

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED MARIA I GOT SNACKS AND DRINKS!" Alex yelled at the top of her lungs, her arms full of all types of goodies. Laying out all their food she eagerly jumped into bed next to her holding the popcorn bowl in her lap.

Hours passed like that, the two laughing and watching the show with rapid attention. Some things weren't as funny as she remembered but still seeing all these characters on screen made her smile. Soon enough though nature called, leaving Maria scrambling to get out of bed and racing to the bathroom, leaving Alexandria with her laptop. On most days that wouldn't be a problem, Alex knew what type of porn Maria had on her laptop so there was no shame in leaving the item with her as she knew all her secrets.

But today would be the day where their lives would take a turn. A turn for the worst or better Maria wouldn't know until much later.

Alex watched the paused screen in boredom, twiddling her thumbs. Suddenly there was a pop up shoving itself right into her face. At first, she was curiously studying the pop-up- "w-wha!" rereading it only caused her to choke on the popcorn she was chewing on.

"Hetaloid sale, 50% off on package deals." She read the line out loud not sure of what to think of it. Logically she knew it must have been some virus of sorts and if Maria was here, she would have tried to exit out of the window. Sadly Maria was not and Alex being curious pressed the pop up and was taken to a website. She scanned through all the "products" that it showed and she had to admit it seemed legit, which was surprising. Whoever did this was really good!

"It's pretty realistic, except it has no pictures of the product only of the canon artwork. At least they used Hidekaz Himaruya recent work and not the old stuff."

Seeing a lone Sweden she smirked knowing that Maria would lose her mind. Alex doubted the whole androids stick was real so it must be a human-sized doll. Without hesitation, she clicked on Sweden and a certain Norwegian adding them to the cart to check out. Alex was quick to type in the information quickly agreeing to the terms of service not bothering to read it- though she decided at the last second to be the one to pay for them. It wouldn't be fair to Maria if it turned out this was all a scam and it emptied her bank or something.

Hearing Maria's footsteps she was quick to exit out of the tab only to find... The pop up wasn't leaving?! In a fit of desperation, she unplugged the laptop and slid the battery out just in time for Maria to walk into the bedroom. Alex froze looking like a kid whose hand was caught in the cookie jar.

"The laptop froze," she blurted out the lie with ease, waving the battery around as if it could prove her innocents.

Maria narrowed eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and staring her down, "Alex, you know that you could've just turned the laptop off instead of taking the battery out."

As expected Alex was scolded for her actions, not that it was bad- it would definitely pale in comparison once the surprise arrived. If Maria figured out it was her who ordered it that is...

The day drew to a close and with a sad goodbye, Maria waved her friend off knowing she had a long two-hour drive ahead of her to get back home in time. She couldn't help but feel as if something was off about Alex today, she was planning something, what it was she wasn't quite sure.

* * *

It seemed to be a normal Wednesday, Maria was out in the garden caring for the sunflowers that were near her front porch. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, grumbling at how sweaty she was. There was dirt all over her overalls and sweat stains on her shirt, she was just thankful for learning to wear a hat while she worked out in the sun. It only took getting a sunburn on her scalp once for her to learn that lesson. It took a few times for her to learn to put on sunscreen though after a while of getting burnt she learned how annoying they were.

Hearing the sound of an engine she looked up from her work, taking off her weeding gloves and placing them to the side. Squinting up at the top of the slope she watched as a large truck with a cute green bunny with wings on the side makes its way down the slope. It stopped- smack dab in front of her house, parking in the grass. Warly she watched as a man hopped from the truck holding onto the side of it for dear life.

"Dear God! That was really steep, not as steep as in cal but damn..." Realizing that he had an audience, he stood up straighter pulling the cap off his head and waving it her way. "So sorry Miss Collins! No offense to your home it was just worried. I didn't want to lose control and drive my truck through your house!"

Even if he was all cheer and smiles red flags popped into her head. How did this man know her last name? Why was he even here? With his brown uniform and clipboard in hand, she could already guess that it was a delivery man but she hadn't ordered anything. Not to mention her mail goes into town, the street above her didn't have a name nor a mailbox leaving it impossible to be listed on the mail route. It was too far from their normal routes for the mailmen to get too anyway.

Standing up straighter she subconsciously puffed her chest out, she may not look threatening but she had some muscles on her. Even if everyone mistook it for fat- she was large and imposing always had been.

"Who are you? I didn't order anything, besides my mail, goes to the post office in town. I live too far out for the towns mail route."

Maria might have never been the dainty girl like society wanted, with brode shoulders and large hands but it gave her the power to push her weight around and knock people off their feet. It use to upset her when she was younger, no matter how much weight she lost she was always called fat for her body type.

The guy chucked nervously at her posture a trickle of sweat going down his neck. He was obviously nervous, or the heat was getting to him, it may have also been a mixture of both.

"Well this is a special delivery and the Mint Bunny corporation delivers personally no matter how far out a person lives! That's the beauty of this company, they may be small and starting out right now but they want t give the best customer service! There's no need to worry over it Miss Collins I-"

Maria's eyes followed his every movement, his next words going in one ear and out the other. When his back was turned she stepped closer to the house, in arm's length of the hoe that she had left propped up against the house. She was just being cautious a 'just in case,' people always felt like they could do anything while out in the middle of nowhere, thinking they would never be caught. She remembered when her family use to live here with her grandfather. The dogs were poisoned by the old neighbors. The men had been annoyed by how aggressive the dogs were towards them and she had a suspicion that the dogs followed them and the men were getting antsy thinking of what the dogs could lead her family to something they didn't want to find out. Her family knew they were up to some illegal activities- not that it mattered anymore, her grandfather managed to get them incarcerated and bought the house that use to belong to them.

It was the sweetest revenge, buying them under, owning the land they use to call home, they couldn't do a damn thing about it. It was their own fault for not paying taxes like they should have.

"Just sign here, aaand thanks Miss Collins, hopefully, your Norway unit will be here soon! I once again apologize for its lateness, I'll leave you to it!" With an all too happy grin- that looked to be borderline relief, he left. Jumping into his truck, zooming up the road leaving her in the dust. Maria stood there in shock, blinking owlishly watching the spot where the trunk use to be. She had been so deep in thought, thinking gleefully on the passing of what she would call justice to the two awful men- She had subconsciously sighed for the packages that weren't hers and taken the manual the delivery man had offered her!

"Dear Lord up above what have I done?" she murmured staring blankly down at the manual, watching as her sweat left wet marks on the paper. In a daze, she walked back inside setting the manual down on the kitchen counter- not able to fully process the words she saw on it. Walking towards the bathroom, she stripped jumping into the shower and washing her long brown hair. While washing her body the words "Hetaliod" and "Sweden" repeated over and over again in her mind leaving her in shock.

In the end, she stepped out smelling strongly of lavender fully scrubbed clean, not a speck of dirt in sight. She took her time drying off, taking great care in blow drying her hair then brushing it out. Wandering to her bedroom in a towel she let it drop at the door. Still deep in thought, she grabbed the first thing from her drawer, a white sundress. She hastily put the dress on starting to worry if that thing would wake up by itself...

"I can't believe this- this has to be some sort of joke," she muttered slipping on some sandals and walking towards the front door, taking a detour to the kitchen to pick up the manual on the way. She can't believe that just for a second she actually bought that it was a hetaliod. She's not gullible like a little guppy, that stuff is a hoax, none of it is real at all. AI's were just stuff of sci-fi novels and to ponder over the meaning of being human. Hetalia AI's were even more ridiculous it was just meant for fanfiction!

"Thank you for ordering from MB corp. Here is a list of instructions for caring for your new Sweden Hetaloid. With your new Hetaloid is a few things..."

Skimming over the manual she grimaced at some of the words written. It had an overall creepy undertone to it, one, for example, being setting up cameras to film the "Sweden unit" if he and a "Findland unit" got intimate. That was a disgusting invasion of privacy, why would a person do that? Sure she might like to read nsfw of her favorite pairing but that was just fiction! In this scenario, the manual painted it as filming them without their knowledge. Sure she might have some weird kinks but consent is important.

Now a bit more irritated over the show of immaturity of the manual (or was this just how they were selling it, was this a selling point? Only 13-year-olds and few young adults would think like that) she stomped out of the house with a box cutter.

Scanning the list she opened the smaller box that was obviously not the Hetaloid's box. (She was not mentally ready to open that crate yet, almost afraid of what she would see) Maria's frown only deepened when she noticed a few things were missing from the list. There was no 'Finland Plush' nor "Hanatamago" she was slightly thankful she didn't have anything for a pet at the moment. If the manual would be believed the units acted like real people and needed food to survive. At least the box made up for the missing objects by having multiple pairs of clothes, she wouldn't have been happy if the box was empty.

"Seriously," she hissed seeing a black marker in the box hidden behind multiple cans of Surströmming... (Why so many cans? The manual said she'd only be getting one this was over 20 cans of the stuff!)

"Make your own dambolis, simply uncap the marker and write the word England on this box then tada!" Maria spoke in sarcastic cheerfulness dropping the black marker back into the box. Hearing a rustling sound she froze eyes nervously looking at the large human-sized crate that she hadn't dared to touch.

Straining her ears to listen she was very close to praying for nothing to happen, only to be crushed at the sound of rustling once more.

Her stomach dropped, suddenly felt sick...

With slow careful steps, she walked silently towards the tool shed behind the house to grab a crowbar. She'd rather open the crate for Berwald then have him bust out, who knows how upset he would be for having to be stuck in there... Dammit, she was doing it again, this couldn't possibly be Berwald Maria get it together!

With crowbar in hand, Maria walked towards the crate, carefully and slowly opening it. A loud crack of splitting wood sounded out like a gunshot, scaring the birds in the surrounded area. Taking a deep breath she had readied herself for what she would find- only to be flabbergasted at what she saw.

Instead of a tall blond, she was face to face with a blond teen with no glasses in sight?

"Oh my god," her hands shook staring at a human- a human in a box! A teenager- it was a teenager in a box, A teenage human in a box oh god.

"What the hell is going on?" Maria hissed more to herself than to the boy in the box. She's not afraid to admit she was in full panic mode, somehow someone managed to mess up and send her a person from a human trafficking ring. She's fucked, she'd completely and utterly fucked! They're going to come after her and this person and then they'll try to drag her back in with this trafficking rig to hide their mistake then she'd be missing- No shut up Maria panic later make sure the boy's okay first!

Wait how is she suppose to do that- how, what does she do in this situation? Watching him with bated breath he slowly opened his eyes.

His turquoise eyes stared into her hazel ones, he kept his mouth closed in a thin straight line, the light of the midday sun shining on his blond hair. He was dressed in old clothing, she couldn't pinpoint an age but she knew he was dressed for winter which in the heat of the beginning of summer wasn't the best thing to be dressed for.

Was it because she read that manual that she thought he looked a whole lot like a younger Berwald? It had to be, how else would she be peacing together these similarities to the character on some poor boy stuffed into a box. It was strange- thinking it was an anime character translated to life. A human person, a real-life human person couldn't compare to the drawings that were made. All the drawings had a similar style and look after all while humans were so different in every little way possible.

His nose had a prominent bridge- some would say it was a long hooked nose she felt the description only brought up sinister people to mind. It felt too harsh of a description, then again maybe she should make it mean something nice to her? It didn't look bad on his face, it wasn't the first thing a person would notice about him after all she just happened to be special.

She should really call the police about this... Then again another bad part of her didn't want to get involved. She had finally been settling down into a routine and taking care of this land only for this boy in a box mumbo jumbo to happen! Calling the police and telling them about this would immediately make herself a suspect. She might have nothing to hide but that didn't me she'd particularly enjoy police hounding her to ask if she'd kidnapped this boy!

If she wasn't going to call the police what was she going to do with him? She was a grown woman, 22 years old-if she took him off the farm to go anywhere it'd be suspicious...

Berwald- the kid didn't seem to care for her inner strife, oh no he just continued to stare at her. They had been studying each other this whole time no words passing between them. In all honesty, if she hadn't been lost in thought she'd feel awkward at this exchange. She did a spit take realizing with all the time she spent staring at him she didn't realize this kid had a fucking sword! It wasn't a plastic one either.

Either it was the shocked look on her face that finally got him moving or just him getting tired of standing inside the box. It still felt like forever for him to fully step out of the thing, taking in his surroundings leisurely. He had an air of authority that was palpable, In a nervous tick, her hands went for her long hair combing her fingers in the long strands which were about to her butt in length. Noticing the movement his eyes locked onto her again his eyes seemingly sparking with- some sort of emotion. He put down his sword and shield pushing his cape back to reach out and-

TOUCH HER HAIR!?

Maria stood frozen, a slight breeze making her dress flutter, Berwald seemed content in examining her hair. His fingers combing through the long locks making her shiver at the contact. His eyes seemingly sparkled at how long her hair was.

"Pretty. Smells good too. Has wide hips..." Maria heard him mumble mostly to himself than to her. If this was any other situation she would have already kicked the guy in the crotch for those words and tried to force him off the property. His reaction to her hair though reminded her of her research into Viking culture. Back when she went on her Viking kick due to her love for the fictional Sweden. One of those things she remembered reading being the beauty standers for that time and what they found beautiful for a person, long hair, pale skin, and cleanliness.

She'd never have pale skin but lucky her to have taken a shower beforehand and clean herself up, huh? She mentally rolls her eyes at her own words a sarcastic edge to them.

He seemed to gather himself, letting her hair go to stand up straight making strong eye contact with her, (as if he hadn't been doing that enough already.) "Do you own this land?"

She straightened out of habit and nodded staring back at him as if challenging him to go against her words. "Yes, this is my property. I farm the land here."

He seemed impressed with this, if she wasn't mistaking his lips might have just twitched before introducing himself, "I am Berwald Oxenstierna."

Maria's eyes fell shut as she took a deep breath doing her best to say calm. Her mind, on the other hand, was screaming with vigor raising in pitch at this new realization.

"I'll show you inside then, please pick up your shield and weapons," she spoke politely and firmly mostly to keep her mind from cracking. (It was far too late for that she was going insane she must be) Oh, how she wished this was a hallucination how was she going to take care of him!?

Berwald set his sheld in the box she had previously opened before putting his sword in the strap on his side. Picking it up he followed her inside the house, the wooden stairs on her porch creaking. Stepping through the doorway they found themselves in the living room, he was obviously curious, staring at the walls openly at the many pictures that she couldn't bare taking off the wall.

Finally gathering up the nerve she managed to ask the question since she first saw him. "How old are you?"

"I physically look sixteen... Who is that?" Berwald asked setting the box down on the couch to point at the picture of her grandfather.

'Oh, my god, he doesn't even look that young.' where the first thoughts at what age he was suppose to represent. Him asking about her grandfather was a good distraction if that was his intention, though not the best one. It made a painful pang go through her heart, eyes tearing up slightly as the familiar sadness washed over her. Taking a deep calming breath she let it back out slowly. "That's my grandfather, he passed away recently."

"How did he die?"

The question makes her stomach turn in knots, she felt- angry that he'd ask but she knew he meant no harm from it, he was a blunt man after all or boy in this case.

"He died fighting a deadly illness." She didn't want to go into detail, this was the best Berwald would get from her for now.

Berwald's eyes lowered he muttered something in Swedish (Old Norse? She didn't remember what language it was called before Swedish) before looking back up to her. He sent her a nod, a nod of solidarity his hand clamping on her shoulder. "No need for tears Maria, he rests easily in Valhalla with Odin or with Freya in Fólkvangr. He was a far stronger warrior than most; sickness is the hardest of battles, fighting one's own body in a battle unseen by others."

Maria didn't even know she was crying- his words they touched her. No one else had said anything like this to her, it was always the same thing, the "I'm sorry's" and the pity but Berwald he kept his gaze steady, he didn't look at her in pity. No, it was respect that he held in his eyes for her grandfather- a man he didn't even know.

The next thing she knew his arms were wrapped around her gathering her up and holding her close. She clung to him unable to stop the tears and the sniffling choked sobs that only made her feel gross. He gently rubbed her back his actions caring and soothing completely different to how most people saw him. At that moment she didn' care about any of the things going on, all she needed was to let this go. She hadn't cried properly since the night she came back from her grandfathers funeral... She had been the calm one holding her feelings within herself and stopping her overemotional family from making mistakes they would regret later.

She attempted to pull away from him, cheeks heating up in humiliation at her actions knowing that his cape must have gotten her tears and snot all over it. He easily let her go, his eyes glinting in worry even as his facial expression stayed the same.

"I'm sorry, these past months have been har-"

Before she could fully explain herself- to come up with some reason of why she was breaking down in his arms he cut her off. "Do you feel better?"

Unable to speak due to her throat constricting and the slight shock of his sudden sharp tone of voice she nodded. Not surprisingly she did feel better, freer. Well, she also had a headache but that always happened after she cried for a really long time.

His posture eased, he seemed glad even if it was hard to tell, he was more subtle with his feelings then most...

It was after this tear fest that Maria had finally lost all motivation for the day, emotionally tired. She showed him to the guest room taking his red cape and promising to wash it before leaving him to set his bedroom up. She set the cape gently into the washer setting the cycle to gentle before heading off to her room.

Instead of napping like she wanted too Maria pulled out the manual along with her phone. She was going to get some answers one way or the other. She was quick to dial the number listed at the bottom of the index, listening to her phone ring until someone picked up.

"Hello, this is Monica of Mint Bunny Corporation speaking how may I help you?"

Leaning back against the pillows on her bed Maria nodded, then realizing no one can see her she spoke. "Yes Hi Monica I just called in to say I didn't order a unit and how do I send it back."

"I'm sorry to hear that Miss, let me transfer you to Jarvis," Monica spoke in a kind understanding tone of voice. Now if Maria didn't know any better she would have thought this Monica actually cared.

After being on hold what felt like forever, she almost jumped out of her skin when the voice of a man spoke up.

"Hello, this is Jarvis with the Mint Bunny Corporation I hear you want to send a unit back?"

"Yes please I never ordered one in the first place and I don't know what to do with him."

"I see, can you please give me your name Miss?"

"Maria Collins"

"Maria Collins, Maria Collins... Oh, you're the one we had to get special directions from!"

Special directions? She didn't even give them any directions in the first place! She asked Jarvis to read the directions out to her which he did happily. Hearing them made her stomach drop, it was correct.

"That's correct but- I didn't order him!"

"Do you wish for me to read off the banking information you gave us?" Jarvis asked in a polite tone but one Maria could guess signaled he wanted to hang up on her. She wondered how many people called to send their units back if that was the cause for his irritation?

"Yes please." He read off her supposed banking information. It wasn't her's and she told him as such. She could physically feel him rolling his eyes at her. She knew it was weird- who would use their own money to buy something for some stranger but it was the truth!

"I'm sorry Miss Collins but to order a Hetaliod you must have agreed to the terms and conditions and seeing as this wasn't a mix-up section 5 states there is a no return policy."

Maria wanted to scream, his tone of voice irritated her to no end- sure she could get it, working at a call center had to suck if people were calling left and right but she didn't need to be judged! He didn't even know her and here he was with his clipped tone of voice telling her there's no return policy! She somehow managed to keep her cool enough to ask about why she was sent a teen Sweden. Jarvis sounded flustered at that and mildly surprised to boot apologizing for the mix up once realizing she, in fact, didn't order a teen Sweden or as Jarvis called him the Viking model. Deeply enjoying making him squirm she brought up the fact of how the box she received with Sweden didn't have the correct items in it missing the Finland plush and their dog. An uncharacteristic, "oh my god" left the man as she told him just how many cans of Surströmming she received.

Many apologies later and a promise to send a Hanatamago unit and plush free of charge. Maria was weak to free things, just hearing the word free had her agreeing even if the items in question could cause more trouble for her- at least the dog could the plush not so much. Once made aware that it would be coming with her Norway unit, (she by now stopped trying to deny having ordered it knowing it wouldn't get her anywhere.) the talked moved on to warnings and words of advice.

"Miss Collins I must warn you the Viking model was still in testing and he loves to... _claim_ things. In a few weeks he'll upgrade into his adult form but for now, you'll have a stubborn Viking on your hand."

His hesitance of saying the word claiming confused her for a moment before it hit her like a ton of bricks. She didn't like the way he said it as if the other would- No no, she's not going to think of that Berwald has been nothing but nice if he wanted to do something to harm her he already would have. Those freaks up at the corporations were the ones writing those shitty manuals too so of course, they would say something like this...

"Berwald is fine he hasn't done anything to harm me and right now he's in his guest room." She couldn't help but sound huffy, she felt a strong urge to defend Berwald even if she only knew him for a short time. It wasn't right to blame an innocent person for something they haven't done.

After a few more words Maria hung up leaving her to roll over on her side. By now she had accepted that this wasn't a human trafficking ring. From Berwald's strong air, to the company warning her that he could harm her, that's not normal. As Sherlock Holmes always said, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." So Berwald being an android must be the truth, then why hasn't the news gone up in arms about human-like AI's?

"Nope, Nope I'm done," Maria sat up throwing her hands in the air before leaning over the side of her bed to grab her laptop. She went straight to youtube clicking on as many funny cat videos as she could. She quickly lost track of time, forgetting about her new housemate and the work she still had left to do.

* * *

 **Authors note: Now the first chapter was short and my notes at the end were a bit ranty so with this chapter I finally got to the meat of the subject at hand.**

 **I want to explore a lot of things and questions with this fanfic that most Hetaliod fics gloss over like the company they come from and what they are doing. Though sometimes when the company is written about it's written off as either a giving place where they give most hetaliods for free (which what's the point of that, that's not helpful for business?) or an evil corporation. In one fic I forgot the name of the fic but damn the ending was so bizarre and had a matrix reference, "which pill will you take? the red one or the blue one?" The girl ended up forgetting her whole life her boyfriend died and her hetaliods were deactivated- only for the cycle to start again since she ended up ordering from the company again?**

 **I think in this fic I'd want to write them in a more neutral way- it's a business after all and what do big business care about most? Their own self-interest. Not that self-interest is all bad, some of it is over the top customer service and all since caring for your self-interest in business is also caring for your customers. What better way to get your companies name out there by having other people talk about nice the deliver was and how much they liked the product.**


	3. Chapter 3

Berwald's first awakening was a rude one and not how he imagined it to go in the least. His head slammed against the side of the crate making something inside the back of his head snap. Whoever was driving was apparently having no qualms of his packaging, it said fragile in big bold black letters painted on the side of the wooden crate not, "run over every pothole at top speed" on it. The mint bunny was on the other side of it was large and overall adorable.

He had many questions that popped up in his head, one of them being why was he in a dark place? The last he had remembered was bundling up for the long cold winter night ahead and having some of his men keep watch. Not many were happy being bossed around by what they perceived to be a boy but Berwald was their best strategist and fighter. He had earned his leadership position thus their respect. None could, or would argue against him. How embarrassing would it have been if he, the personification of Sweden be seen as not worthy by his own people? Amidst these thoughts, he managed to find his sword which was suspiciously out of its proper sheath. He grabbed it, sliding it back in its sheath right where it belonged by his side. Before he could attempt to plan out an escape, his eyelids started to lower. He fought it, trying to force his eyes open, raising his arms to weakly punch at what he assumed to be the wall. Alas, his programming had other ideas. His systems demanded a forced shutdown in attempts to fix the problem while he was in sleep mode. With no input of his own, his eyes fell shut finally sending him back into the blackness of sleep. The only signs he was still functioning at all where the soft sound of his, "breathing."

* * *

When Berwald opened his eyes for a second time, (not that he remembered much of the first time, his memory of his short time being awake partly erased after he went into sleep mode) he came face to face with a woman. He was going to claim her as his- was the first thought inside his head. He's a Viking, he can do whatever he wanted and pleased unless it involved the annoying Dane... Still, even if the Dane had rule over him that didn't mean he would give up. He was planning to fight against the other and beat him up, Sweden would get his freedom from the Danish rule one way or another.

It was a simple fact.

Oddly enough his programming seemed to be going haywire, it was apparent he wasn't supposed to have urgers of wants unless his master asked him of something. It made him huff as if simple programming could keep a Viking warrior at bay. Though it was odd to have memories of being a country, helping lead your clan to victory then all of a sudden be somewhere else entirely. Here in this short green grassy area with the hot sun up above beating down on him. Red warning signs appearing behind his closed eyelids telling him he couldn't break rules that his, "master" set up. No matter what this programming said about her being his, "master or mistress in this case" he would actively go against it. He was Berwald Oxenstierna, clan leader, warrior. No person on this earth could tell him what to do besides himself.

He stepped forward, fingers twitching as if planning on reaching out to grab her only to freeze. He had been staring at her all this time while in deep thought, studying her and he couldn't help but notice a few things. (As one does while intently studying a person...) Her hair was long, longer then most village women, she smelled of sweet lavender a plant they rarely if ever got a hold of. The pure white dress she wore had similarities with the dress his people's goddess Freya wore. She was almost perfect, her skin may not have been pale white as most Viking men praised but... His hand reached out grabbing a lock of her hair with a rare gentleness, he didn't show to just any stranger. His eyes sparkled at seeing just how long and lustrous it was. He was so focused on the task at hand he didn't notice her stiffening in shock.

"Pretty. Smells good too. Has wide hips..." he muttered to himself. Letting go of her hair going back to studying her, wondering if this was a sign from the gods. She was strong he could see it in her eyes and the way she stood up against him. He was sure if there was an invasion she would take the closest thing to her and use it to fight off invaders from her homeland. Even now with his strange presence, she looked ready to fight against him if he made any attempt of wrongdoings. He, unlike many unwary folks, took notice of the gardening tool near her home. If she so wished she could lunge for it and use it to bash his skull in.

This Maria Collins would be the perfect wife, strong, smart, capable with her hands. She even had child-bearing hips, what more could a simple Viking ask for?

"Do you own this land?" He asked to figure out if she was already wedded or if her family was searching for a strong family to ally themselves with. He would eagerly speak with her father on marriage plans if she deemed him worthy enough for her hand. His clan had been growing suspicious of him not taking a wife and he wished to quell those thoughts and soon. He didn't need them to start making fun of his marital status and lose respect in them. Sure it could be seen as poking fun at first at their leader but that is how all things spiraled out of control. They'd poke fun at one another until someone goes too far then it's too late to stop it which leads to losing respect hurt feelings and many other things he's watched unfold from before.

He nodded his head at her answer, surprised once learning she owned and worked this land on her own. He hoped she had at least some form of farmhand to help her this area was large, it would need more than her to care for it.

That's when Berwald decided he would court her, it would be beneficial for the both of them. She was in need of a protector and he needed someone to call wife to keep his men from wondering. If Maria's father ever appeared Berwald would ask him formally for her hand in marriage as was right and proper to do so. It may have been a cause of gossip for a man to be living with an unmarried woman but he couldn't leave her alone. Besides his own morals, the thought of leaving made annoying red warning signs appear in his mind again. It was starting to irritate him having something in his head trying to corral his thoughts

Well if he was going to break some proper customs along the way then he might as well go all out and write her a love poem. It would be best to hide that from his men they would surely have his head thinking he used magic to convince her to marry him. It only seemed right, this woman who made him think of Freya being given a love pome, Freya greatly enjoyed reading them maybe Maria would as well? Besides that he wasn't sure what else to do, his people rarely courted one another, marriages having been planned ahead as a way to make families stronger. He knew he'd have to learn the art of courting if he were to gain her heart. She was of a different kind, and him simply blurting out his wish to marry wouldn't be the best bet even if he wanted too. The Swedish boy didn't seem to take into account of Maria's own thoughts, which would be a very strong no. The reasons were quite obvious in today's time simply being the age gap along with the fact he was a practical stranger to her.

Setting his shield within the box Berwald picked it up following behind after Maria while taking in the open garage and the front porch that held two rocking chairs. His brain was imminently bombarded with questions once he was inside, gazing at the room in confusion at the decoration. His own brain seemed to be able to answer the questions for him without prompting; it was as if he knew the knowledge without remembering how he gained it. That black flat glass thing standing upright on a table? A flat screen tv- the weird square things with all types of colorful buttons- a remote control. He had to keep his eyes away from those things or he would get a mirage, it was with that he focused on the walls seeing many pictures of family and most commonly pictures of Maria with an old man.

He opened his mouth to about to ask who it was when she asked for his age. His brows furrowed in slight confusion, did he mean his countries age or his physical forms age?

"I physically look Sixteen- Who is that?" he asked setting the box on the brown couch and pointing out the picture of an old man, quickly brushing off the age comment wanting to quell his curiosity first. His head was tilted to the side, although he had an idea who this was either a grandfather or an old family friend.

Berwald nodded his head solemnly at learning of the old man's passing, asking how he died. Hearing he died due to an illness only impressed him further, dying that way fighting against one's own body was just as impressive if not more so then in battle. He lowered his head sending a prayer up to the gods that the old man was enjoying his time in the afterlife.

After voicing his thoughts on the old man he felt his heart pang at her tears. He knew what he wanted to do, to hug away her pain but he wasn't sure if that was what she wanted or needed from him. If he was his younger self he would've never openly gone to a crying person to hug them, it would have been far too awkward to do so. Now he was older, he had seen many pass on while he mostly stayed the same. His clan all knew he never aged and he felt his people were grateful for it. He would never die and they could pass on knowing that he was still there that he could watch over them and lead them to an extent. It never stopped the hurt of seeing his companions die even though he was a thousand years old. t was odd giving comfort to a woman he didn't know, who was not a part of his population but he did not hesitate in doing so once his mind was made up. With how long he had lived he knew even the strong felt weak at times; she must have been playing strong for a long time to have lead to this. It must have been hard being alone like this and taking care of this place all by herself. His face darkened wondering where her parents were or her siblings if she had any. Holding her close he patted her back, letting her sob into his shoulder and cling onto him.

It felt like they stayed like that forever, he only let go when she started to move away. She tried to apologize for her outburst and make excuses for it which he wouldn't have. He simply asked if she felt better and learning she was relieved him. He wanted to ask if she was here by herself and when her workers would come but decided to keep his thoughts to himself. He already pried far too much into her business anyway.

Following her to his assigned room he watched her leave, she looked tired. He waited for a moment, listening to her feet shuffle down the hall until he couldn't hear her anymore. He was worried for her but had to stuff that worry down. She needed rest not him barging into her private chambers and asking if she was truly okay.

Staring at the untouched room he wondered how a place could be so clean. The floor, the bed, walls- everything about this room was spotless not even a speck of dust was left behind. It almost felt to clean, as if this room had no purpose of being besides being cleaned. It was a dull room, the walls a light grey while the bed was a pristine white. A dresser sat across from the bed, walking over too it he opened it to find kids clothes. In each drawer, there was a type of clothes for every age group from babies to teenagers. There were many styles but they were all simple in designs and worn out. It was apparent these clothes were used many times.

Moving onto the closet he found hangers to put his clothes upon, there were also a few clothes in it as well folded up and sitting on the shelf above the hangers.

"Åh, jag glömde rutan," (Oh, I forgot the box.) Berwald muttered to himself leaving his room and passing Maria's on the way. He heard her talking to someone but ignored it not wanting to interrupt her. Grabbing the box he went back to his room as quickly and quietly as possible shutting the door behind him. Setting the box on the bed he grabbed some of the clothes that were inside. Holding the article up against him he frowned noticing they were too big. They weren't even practical for his harsh winters, sure the coat had long sleeves but where were the other layers, the Viking side of his head whispered in worry.

"Vad gör jag med detta," (What do I do with this?) he said to himself, putting the clothes up on the hangers. At the words that came out of his mouth he blinked rapidly, he didn't notice it before but when speaking to Maria he had been speaking in English.

A language he didn't know...

Sitting on the other side of the bed he began to take the clothes out of the box unfolding them to stare at and see if they would fit before sighing deeply when noticing the size then hanging them up. At this rate, he would be stuck wearing his blue tunic until she took him shopping...

After a few minutes of repeating this process, his clothes were finally away leaving him with many cans of some sort of food. He had no clue what it was so left them inside the box along with a black marker. Sighing deeply he rubbed the back of his neck brows furrowed in thought. He started to actively talk out loud to listen to the two languages wondering if he could go back and forth between them easily.

"What has happened to me?"

"Jag vet inte hur jag kan prata engelska." (I don't know how I can speak english)

"How did I not realize I was speaking English before."

After a while of going back and forth saying his questions in English and Swedish, he had a headache. It had also been a while since he had seen Maria and he may have wondered what she was up too. The floor creaked as he stood up, silently making his way out of the room then towards the room where he could hear her giggling.

Berwald stared at Maria through the crack of her door watching over her, he was simply curious about what she was doing and didn't see how this could be seen as creepy. After how hard she cried he would've expected her to be tired out and sleeping. She went against all of that, it was apparent she was doing something on her laptop...

Seeing the object made contradicting thoughts pop up in his head again only making his headache worst. Huffing lowly at his thoughts he kept his post, watching her smile and laugh at whatever was on screen. It was all oddly endearing watching her hop in place on her bed as something happened on the screen to make her giggle and smile, clapping her hands together in an excited manner.

He pushed the door open slowly poking his head in to make her aware of his presence. "Maria kan vi prata? Kläderna jag har är för stora, de kommer inte att passa." ( Maria can we talk? The clothes I have are too big, they will not fit )

Maria jolted at the sound of his voice a squeak leaving her, staring at him in wide-eyed surprise. Outwardly Berwald's expression stayed the same, while inwardly he sparkled at her adorableness. "Söt..." (Cute...) He whispered under his breath eyes softening at her appearance. She looked like a little-startled rabbit; it was endearing to him, to say the least...

* * *

 **Authors note: S** **O! Suprise update on this fanfic as well- I don't remember what I was thinking when I wrote this, ( it was another chapter I had squirreled away under a random doc name like 'sngjvjkufjds', yes I know I need better names ) besides wanting to show Viking Sweden's thought process and clues to things that may or may not happen later in the story**

 **and _Raven_** **you actually asked one of these questions. I was a bit surprised and flustered at seeing a review as its been a long while since I've gotten one with a question and nice criticism as well I'm very grateful for it!**

 **To simply put it, yes Viking Sweden was only supposed to know Swedish but due to getting his head smacked it messed up a bit of his programming. He's able to speak both English and Swedish as of right now. He also has a few other 'problems' but I'm you can guess what those other problems are by reading it. Hopefully, I'm not being too heavy-handed this time around.**

 **Yes, it was based on a place I lived where I was young, and y** **es you may call me Princess I don't mind.**

 _ **Blossom555:**_ **I'm planning on sticking to the Nordics but if you're interested in seeing a younger America I plan on it happening in my other story, 'Beating Heart of Stone.'**

 **Also, I know what this may look like to some people but no there is _no shipping_ that will happen with the Nordics, Sweden may try but he's not going to get anywhere. This is purely a family thing unless I decide later for something to happen.**


	4. Chapter 4

While Maria had, in fact, watched some cat video's the realization that if the Mint Bunny Corporation had a call center then they most definitely must have a website sent her frantically searching the net. Unsurprisingly she only turned up with fanfiction, upon fanfiction.

"That's not what I mean! Come on google, they have to have something out there!" she hissed to herself, eye twitching at all the fanfiction she stumbled across. On any other day maybe she wouldn't have minded it, she did read fanfiction to destress after work but that was before moving into her grandfather's farm. She had been far to busy to think of even something like that.

She actually had to press the next button on Google, (which was rare in itself) to finally get her answer (on page ten believe it or not) Or so she hoped.

Nothing.

The page wasn't blank. No, it _was_ a functioning website, it had all, if not most, of the Hetalia characters ready for shipping but it might as well have been blank. She got the feeling the website was more talk than actual explanations. There were no details, just filler, and fluff, distracting from the questions of, 'how they made these things' to, 'all the new shiny things they had' along with 'what, and what wasn't in stock.' It didn't alleviate her worries in the least, what if this unit had a camera inside his eyes that took pictures? What if he had a tracking device in him? She didn't like the idea of strangers knowing where she lived or what she did during the day. It was an invasion of privacy, a horror story come to life. The question of how the fact androids walked among them hadn't reached the news if they had such a public page...

"No more stressing out, go back to cats. " Maria muttered to herself smacking her forehead a bit as if doing so would get rid of her thoughts.

Which it did thankfully, even if said thoughts weren't fully gone, only pushed into the back of her head crying out her doom. This was why when Berwald stepped in she jumped in shock, eyes wide, face flushing pink. She instinctively raised her blankets higher, covering her chest, sending her laptop falling out of her lap and onto the floor.

A loud crack seemed to echo around the room making her sit horror-struck from it all. That was when Maria knew she had burst into flames, face hot from the embarrassment and shock, eyes watery from the idea of having to replace her laptop screen. A part of her just wished to burrow under her blankets and never come out again. She couldn't believe she was that easily startled, then again she was used to being in this house alone it would take a while for her to get used to the new presence in her house.

Berwald tentatively walked into the room, bending over to pick up her laptop handing it off to her. She took it, closing her eyes as she slowly closed the lid, hearing another crack and not wanting to think of it. Opening her eyes she placed the laptop at the foot of her bed before getting out. While in bed she felt small compared to him so she stood up to feel less so. Although she believed he'd move backward with her forward advance, he did not leaving her awkwardly popping the invisible personal space bubble between them.

"S-Sorry Berwald," Maria stammered out trying to push away her emotions so she could get his question over and done with so she could focus on her laptop once he was gone. "but I don't speak... uh, Swedish?" Her words sounded more like a question than a statement. "Can you repeat that in English for me."

She wasn't aware if what he was speaking was modern Swedish or Old Norse. She was sure that no one knew how to speak old Norse anyway so it had to be Swedish they programmed him with to make it easier on themselves.

His eyes shined apologetically having taken a glance at the laptop that lay in the midst of messed up sheets before they landed on her once more. "m' sorry Maria. I said the clothes I have won't fit me."

That she could deal with, she was sure that her grandfather had other clothes around the house, she had seen them after all. Not that she remembered where she put them, it had been months ago when she had done that. She'd have to-

Berwald broke her train of thought by saying, "I found old clothes in the dresser drawer of my room. I can wear them."

She blinked, looking surprised at his words before remembering- "Oh! Right, those clothes were the clothes left over from when my dad aunts and uncles were kids..." She had folded them all up and put away in the dresser due to not having a box to put them in. She had been far too distracted by her plans of farming to go into town and find a discarded box to put the clothes away or buy a tub from the store. Not to mention she didn't really feel like going through old clothes.

Sending her laptop one last glance she moved pass Berwald heading off towards the room where she told him to stay in. She didn't have to wonder if he was following behind, able to hear his steps on the old wood floor. Opening the drawers she found the clothes he spoke of, picking them up she handed them off to him while saying, "You can go try these on some of my aunt's clothes are in there as well if you want to have different choices..."

She wasn't sure if he'd want too, or if his aunt's shirts would fit him but she didn't believe in gendered clothes, sure some things were more feminine or masculine then others but that didn't mean the other sex couldn't wear it! She only received a grunted in response to which she took meaning it was okay before he walked out the door and towards one of the bathrooms. For a moment she stood there awkwardly, bouncing onto the balls of her feet, swishing her dress side to side unsure if he expected her to stay here or if she could go back to her room close and lock the door so she could freak out over her laptop finally.

Seeing that his closet door was open, she took a peek inside much to the chagrin of her shoulder angel. Inside the closet, she noticed just how large the clothes were in comparison of the boy. "These are pretty big," Maria mumbled to herself poking her head farther into the closet looking at many of the outfits. There were some outfits from the anime others were just average clothes she'd expect a man to have. There was a very nice looking black suite in there with a blue tie as well. Sh shuttered to think of how tall he would be when he was older, hopefully, by then they would be- Friend? Hopefully, he would see her as a friend, as she wasn't sure what she'd do with him if he only saw her as a woman to protect. She wasn't naive enough to think that wasn't what he was thinking when he learned she was alone. She wasn't sure what the protocol of Vikings were but she knew that they wouldn't leave the women and children unprotected. He most likely saw her as someone to protect and keep safe and that was the last thing she wanted. If he even attempted to control her she was putting her foot down.

"... Shoes." She heard a voice mumble something out, unable to make out everything he said, due to her thoughts. She tuned back in to see Berwald in blue jeans a blue t-shirt and white socks. He stood in the doorway holding a wad of the clothes she handed to him in one arm, while in the other held his tunic, pants and his shoes.

Clearing her throat, she closed the closet door behind her, flushing ever so slightly at being caught. It was embarrassing enough to have missed half of what he said, only more so to have been caught snooping. Rightly assuming that he was talking about his problem with not having shoes she nodded, "Right you need better shoes than those-" she paused, unsure what to call them. Leather slips? They weren't like any type of shoes she saw even if she recognized them as so. "There are some in the attic, I can bring them down and you can try them on but please try to remember to take your shoes off at the front or back door." She paused for a split moment realizing she sounded like a hypocrite as she didn't take off her sandals until she was in her bedroom. "I know I didn't follow my own rule but I was- _emotionally compromised_..." Trailing off her eyes took one last sweep of the room, eyes landing on the box that she had looked over in her anxious waiting.

"You can take out the other clothes and pile them up on the bed so you can put your other clothes away; I'll be taking your box to put your other stuff away while you do that." She bent over taking out the shield and placing it on the bed before picking up said box. It looks like she wouldn't need to go to town to get a box as this box was large enough to hold all of the clothes from the dresser as long as she folded them correctly.

Passing him by she didn't look back going down the hallway, passing the dining room and into the living room to the open kitchen. Kicking a stool with her foot she ignored the slight screech it made on the tiles pushing it until it was near one of the higher cupboards. Surströmming, she had heard was smelly, even if some internet reviews said it tasted pretty good.

"Not in my house you're not," Maria muttered to herself once more, easily hopping upon the stool and placing the many, many cans up high so he couldn't reach. Thus he wouldn't even think of trying to get it if he couldn't reach it easily!

"Hm, I don't even know if he likes this stuff in the shape he's in now..." She doubted it, Vikings just ate the fish they caught and as far as she knew they didn't catch the type of fish it was made from. At least she believed they wouldn't waste their energy on it, the fish was small, most likely would shrivel up if cooked then again they would most likely eat anything back then so they wouldn't starve.

"It's so strange," she signed bending over to grab another can pushing the first stack that she made back with it. "A teen nation in my house. A teen nation Viking to boot! That kid must have killed people"

'He could easily snap your neck if you aren't careful.' a voice in the back of her head whispered sickeningly sweetly.

"Yes but he hasn't done it," she argued with the voice in hushed tones. "I don't believe he'd kill people without a reason."

She utterly failed in comforting herself, her voice sounding unsure to even herself. It was odd how composed he seemed to be with all of this, she would've at least expected him to try to take her land and claim it as his own with his Viking line of thinking. That was what they did, they were trying to gain more land, more people and grow their numbers.

She squeaked her train of thought interrupted at spotting someone move out of the corner of her eye. She almost fell off the stool from the shock of it only to have Berwald's hand snapped up, grabbing her arm to steady her while another one rested on her back. Thankfully she was able to keep her balance and straighten herself out before making it down the stepping stool without any injury, by then having finished her task. Not that it mattered now as he possibly saw what she was putting away.

"m' sorry" Berwald apologized softly. Instead of glancing away from her like she assumed he would, (his voice was all soft and almost shy sounding why wouldn't he?) he continued to stare at her. She was suddenly starting to understand what Finland felt like with all the staring and no words. It was nerve-wracking having someone stare at you with as much intent as he did. She couldn't read him at all and it was only mildly distressing- no that was a lie it was stressing her the heck out! She liked to believe she was easily able to read people but Berwald was like a stone wall.

Scratching her cheek nervously she laughed it off. "It's okay, I know you came in here too..." She trailed off before saying, "help, right? Well, you don't have to worry about it all I have to do is-" she reached into the box pulling out the sharpie, pushing away the stray hairs that got into her face. "Write out kids clothes onto the box and put that stuff away, then open up the attic to get you some shoes!" Hastily she wrote out the tile onto the box, but before she could grab it Berwald did.

"Uh-" He nodded at her in agreement, not saying anything else. Pulling a confused face she raised her brows not sure what he was nodding for. Sighing through her nose she picked up the footstool, subconsciously holding it between them as a barrier, almost as if it could lessen the feeling of his stare. "Let me put this up then I can get you some shoes for you. We have a lot of work to do later Like moving that crate you came into the burn pile." and looking at my most likely damaged laptop she added on silently.

Once putting the stool back she made her way to where the entrance to the attic was. She heard Berwald pattering away, most likely back to his room so he could put the clothes into the box for her. It only irked her slightly, she did tell him she was going to do it and to not worry about it. She wanted to do it so she could make sure all the clothes were folded correctly so that the full capacity of the box could be used.

With a shake of her head, (then having to fix her hair once more due to the strands getting into her face) she pulled the stairs down. She coughed loudly the dust and sun coming down onto her face. She could spy the particles floating around the air, causing her to sneeze.

"Aw gross," she muttered having sneezed so hard some snot came out. Racing to the bathroom she took care of the mess, washing her hands after before grabbing a spar hair tie so she could work without having her long wavy hair get in the way. Getting back to business she lifted her foot up preparing to get up the ladder only to have an arm come out and stop her.

What. Seemed to be the only thought in her head, question marks floating above her head as Berwald stared back at her. They both silently stared at each other. 'Surely he couldn't have finished putting up the clothes that fast!' she thought silently hazle eyes narrowing onto his own turquoise eyes.

Alas, he didn't give anything away only speaking once a straight minute had passed of intense eye contact. "I can take care of it, tell me where to find them."

A surprised, "oh?" Left her at his words. It was slightly confusing why he suddenly saw the need to do it himself, but seeing no problem with it, (at least this is what she told herself) she told him to look with a box that had the word shoes on it. Watching him go up she failed to hide a snorted when he bumped his head on the entrance of the attic. She had done the exact same thing a few times as well on the small entryway.

He seemed to find a pair he liked with no problem, coming down quickly with some hiking boots in his hands. He sat on the floor to put them on while she closed the attic. Waving her hand in a come here motion she called for the Viking to follow her outside putting on the pair of crocs that sat at the back door. She'd need some help with carrying his crate out to the burn pile after all that thing even without it's... "contents" was heavy.

What she didn't expect was for him to lift the whole thing over his head like a strong man. She openly gaped at the spectacle before her, wildly pointing at him as he stood as still as a stature most likely waiting for her to show him where the burn pile was.

"wha- How did you- it's so heavy!?"

Berwald looked like he would've shrugged if he wasn't holding the crate in the air. "Not really, it's about as heavy as a bag"

Maria had just started to get over her shock only to be hit in the gut with his words. As heavy as a bag he said? How strong was he then- what were the capabilities of his full strength?

"Hm? you didn't reprogram me that's why."

Did she say that out loud?

"Yes, you did."

"O-Oh sorry! So you're left at full strength than when you're shipped," she asked motioning for him to follow her towards the back. Even so, the questions in her mind still roared. This was insane, first artificial intelligence being a thing and now them being strong as hell? Sure he looked buff but there was a difference between the normal buff and super strength! Not to mention he was a teenager, teenagers weren't suppose to be that strong, to begin with!

A pensive look crossed Berwald's face at her question. "I don't remember much. They wanted us at our best." He seemed to pull a face that Maria could confidently say made him look like he was constipated and confused about it. "I was, activated more then once before, for test runs, they talked over my head as if I wasn't even there. They said that owners apparently liked being able to control our personality traits and how strong we were."

She grimaced at the term owner. It just- it never sat right with her. Knowing her ancestors use to be treated the same way, as objects, savage animals of little worth. Being faced with that in this day and age? It was nuts! Though slavery never truly ended. It was illegal, yes but she knew that it still happened around the world which only made her heart ache more. There were so many issues with today's world that it made her head spin. The one thing she knew for certain though was that the mint bunny corporation was going to go through some hell if they thought this was going to fly. How they haven't already boggled her mind. They may be a new company but news travels fast on the internet and they had a website for christ sakes! They couldn't have such high security to have made sentient life without anyone finding out...

That seemed more like a government thing.

So just who were the masterminds behind the mint bunny cooperation? Why weren't they called flying mint bunny cooperation? Was it too much of a mouth full? did they not want to get dragged to court for copyright infringement- that's the least likely since it would be considered copyright that they even made these Hetaliods if they didn't ask the creators permission. What did Hidekaz Himaruya think of this if he did he agree to this?

"You're thinking too hard again."

Maria blinked owlishly not even noticing that she had stopped walking, standing in front of the burn pile. Her brows were so deeply furrowed that there were wrinkles on her forehead.

"You've got a pained look on your face," Berwald said observing her as he sat the wooden crate into the ashes of what was there in the last time.

Maria sighed softly shaking her head, "You'll come to find I over think a lot. It's just- you do realize how wrong this is right? You're just a kid!"

Berwald sent her a truly perplexed look tilting his head to the side in obvious confusion. " 'm 1,820 years old, not a child..."

A choked gasp mixed with a wheezed left her at the ridiculously large number he gave her. The constipated look was coming back to his face, she should probably stop laughing "I think if you look at what year it is you'll find that Sweden is much older now."

She had no clue why she just said that.

"But 'm not, the Sweden here is older but 'm from the 800AD."

'You're not real at all though,' a traitors thought whispered in the back of her mind. 'All those memories of your time as a Viking are fake, programmed into you to give you a reason for your actions.' It felt cold to think of it like that, besides he was here now, he could make new memories, ones that weren't fake.

"Let's just not get into the whole immortality thing and being old it's making my head ache." And wasn't that an understatement? There was just way too many things to think about involving all of this but so little time to do it in.

At least too much for today.

"Also, don't call me master or mistress okay," Maria sent him a stern glare that swore vengeance upon anyone who dares give her that title seriously. Before she could get too far into her passionate rant Berwald bluntly stated, "You're not my master, I'll never see you as one. You can't tell me what to do. Though I keep seeing red warning signs behind my eyelids telling me not to go against you... It's annoying."

Those words sent red alarms to go off in the back of her head but no matter how much she pestered him and tried to persuade him to talk more about it he was as silent as the grave. Maybe he didn't like being reminded of the fact that he was an android? If her memories where suddenly downloaded and put into an android body she'd surely not be happy with her new state of life and would want to go back to being human. Though the fact that he had red warning signs come up at all were curious. Was this a mechanism they put in place to keep the android compliant and make sure they kept their owners happy? It must have been. Why would they send fully functional humans to people, knowing some folks would want to return them if the android did something they didn't like.

It was just another mystery for her to ponder on.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** **First off not to be a beggar but comments are literally my motivation. Seeing them has got me typing furiously away at my keyboard whenever I have the chance to write. It lets me know you guys are still interested even though I myself haven't been here for a long while. It's hard to keep writing a story when no one seems to hold any interest in it even if you, the author have interest in it.**

 **If you can't tell Swedens obviously having trouble with accepting the fact that he's an android, our boy here is at least on layer 56 denial. He's more confused than anything but yes he still thinks he's flesh and bone. Unkillable flesh and bone but flesh and bone all the same. It really hasn't hit him yet that he was basically made for someone else's pleasure or the fact that there could possibly be another version of himself out there. Maria, on the other hand, is thinking deeply about the MP corps ethics. She's going to be doing a lot of questioning/searching for answers for maybe a few more chapters before she gives up on that.**

 ** _Hullanta_ : Thank you for your review! I was truly ecstatic to see it in my inbox. I can't promise regularly scheduled updates nor how this story will end. The only thing I do know is what I want to convey with this story and that's good enough for me! I'm just thankful for all the people who still have interested for it even when I was gone for a while. **

**_Raven:_ Well I did in fact cut the chapter in half, I thought it would be way too long if I kept it together so that's why it, 'ended abruptly' as you said. I kept trying to write a smoother ending but couldn't think of what else to put and left it as is in the end.**

 **I'm pleased to hear that you were excited about how I went about writing Sweden talking in his native tongue. I can sympathize with your plight. I've always found it frustrating, especially if the chapter was a long one. Having to scroll all the way down to figure out what the character was saying only to lose your place was a nightmare. I didn't want to do that to my own readers so I placed them in parentheses for easy access.**

 **As for the shipping thing, I still stand firm with my decision of not having it as of right now. I don't see my mind changing but as I said in the last chapter I'd have to feel like doing it for it to happen at all. It would only ever happen if I myself feel that my character has romantic chemistry with one or two of the Nordics that I can't ignore.**


	5. Chapter 5

Maria left Berwald to poke around the kitchen, tiptoeing away to her bedroom to finally have some time to herself. Closing the door she locked it behind her, pressing her forehead into the wood for a moment feeling exhausted. Turning around slowly her bare feet pattered across her room towards her bed and to her laptop. Squaring her shoulders she opened it up, hearing another loud crack as she did so.

The screen miraculously was okay, there were no cracks that would cause upset, it was the body of the laptop that wasn't. Both corners near the keyboard had cracks that she knew would get bigger with every time she opened it.

"Duck tape and super glue maybe?" She wondered out loud, opening the top drawer of her dresser, pulling out the ducktape while the glue she found hidden on her bookcase. Biting her bottom lip, she held the screen just so that the crack was as closed as she could get it before sticking the glue on it. She repeated this process for the other side, holding everything together until she took the ducktape that had mustaches on it. Slapping the ducktape across the newly sealed cracks she hoped it would last. She wasn't looking forward to the possibility of having to buy another laptop unless she bought a new body for it? No, it would just be easier to buy a new laptop altogether, it's not as if she had a nerd squad in her tiny town to put the hard drive into the new body of a laptop.

Closing her laptop she set it back onto the middle of the bed face planing near the foot of the bed, letting her legs hang out the side.

She started to cry.

There was too much to do, too much for her to do, too much responsibility at once. She wished that her grandpa was here with her, he would be able to handle it all. He'd help her, help take care of the things she didn't have time for like taking out the trash or cleaning the kitchen counters.

A memory hit her, one that only made more tears fall from her eyes...

* * *

 _"oi you listening to me, ya ragamuffin," she heard a gruff voice ask, throwing the wrapping of the staw at her face. Maria giggled looking up from her phone to see her grandfather's twinkling blue eyes and wrinkled dark face. 'you and your phone! I swear you might get sucked in it one day, what's so interesting on that thing anyway,' he asked teasing tone, all the while, wiggling his fingers as if he would tickle her right then and there._

 _Her twelve-year-old self stuck her tongue out at him, teasing him right back, setting the phone down so she could pick up the wadded up wrapper and throw it back at him. She's heard it all before from other old people, but unlike them, her grandpa never really mind it. It was just another thing to tease her with to make her laugh, he was cool like that! That's why she hung out with him, he was awesome even if others thought she was lame for it they were just mean._

 _"I'm trying to learn how to speak Swedish," Maria exclaimed face flushed as she thought of Sweden from Hetalia. She had a huge crush on the large imposing man, his hight and silent air pulling her younger mind in. It may have been the mysterious air that surrounded him, or the fact that his kind acts where misunderstood. (she liked Russia for the same reasons minus the kind acts bit)_

 _'oh really?' he raised a brow leaning over the table and without hesitation she turned her phone to show him the app she had open. He nodded looking at the digital flashcards, 'I can't say I'm fluent myself but I had a friend I served with who knew how to speak it. He wanted to move out to Sweden but the war got to us before he could do it."_

 _A melancholy silence fell over the old man causing him to sigh deeper eyes having gone foggy as if looking at something else. Slowly though his eyes lit up, his lips curling in a soft smile at the memory. Shaking his head his smile widened, chasing away the melancholy air by asking her if she wanted him to get his friend to help her learn it._

 _"Whoa, really grandpa!" Maria almost yelled, hopping up and down in her seat with the idea that she could learn from someone who knew the language than through the app that was voice generated. Unable to stay in the booth, she hopped out and towards his side, wrapping her arms around him squeezing him as tightly as she could planting a kiss on his cheek. "You're the best!"_

 _"Don't thank me yet Duncan hasn't even agreed."_

* * *

It ached to think about it, even Duncan who she had seen as an extra uncle, while not dead suffered heavily from dementia. It was but a matter of time when he too would leave her and she wasn't sure if she could handle it not so soon after her recent loss. While she wasn't as close to him as she was with her grandpa he still was a staple in her young life; helping encourage her to reach her dreams even after she had given up learning Swedish, (it was after all one of those childish fantasies that kids had, a dream that kids strove for a little while before being distracted by something else) he still held contact with her.

Now she was left alone, the only other people to share her memories with her grandpa were the local hospital staff and the extended family. The thought of the betrayal by a certain family member stung, causing her to grit her teeth infuriated just by the thought of them being called family after what they had done. Taking deep controlled breaths she managed to rope in the anger that had started to simmer to the surface. The wounds were still fresh, leaving her to crawl further onto her bed grabbing a pillow and screaming bloody murder into it so she didn't take it out on anyone else.

* * *

Berwald tilted his head, positive he just heard something coming from the other side of the house...

He ended up shrugging it off going back to exploring the kitchen having finally decided to explore the upper cabinets. Specifically, the cabinet that Maria had been putting stuff into. He found the cans to be odd while appealing in a strange way that he couldn't vocalize. He stood still on the stool furrowed brows staring down at the can with a look on his face as if it publically insulted him.

Not that he was affronted in the least. Alas, that was just his face.

He was greatly tempted to open it wondering if the fish within would taste familiar to him. Only to remember. "Allt är inte guld som glimmar. _" (_ All that glimmers is not gold. _)_ Berwald muttered to himself putting the can away firmly deciding not to mess with the items that Maria seemed to have hidden away for a purpose. Stepping off the stool he took a look at the clock, taking note that it was afternoon which made him realize that Maria hadn't eaten anything. (That he knew of) The idea of her not eating made him frown ever so slightly. It wasn't good for one's body, he should know he saw many of his men sub-come to hunger. While he too could feel the hunger pains, he never fell to it. It was it's own brand of torture in a way, so many times he had wished for death only to be spared for he wasn't human in the least. The hunger pains were one that he had gotten used too as the years had passed.

Right then and there Berwald did what he believed he did best. Cook a good meal. It wasn't a lunch type of food, but it wasn't lunch nor dinner yet so why not give her a breakfast food instead? Swedish cinnamon rolls were very delicious. Only the rich were able to get them due to how sugar and cinnamon were difficult to get their hands on. He was in slight awe at the fact that a modest woman like Maria had the ingredients needed to make the sweet dish. Along with the sweet treat he had managed to find sausages hidden away in the fridge as well. It seemed that while she didn't have much food she still bought quality items, the smell of the sausage so tantalizing that he almost took a bite out of it right then and there instead of cooking it.

* * *

The growl of her stomach interrupted her wallowing, the hint of cinnamon in the air hitting her. Without meaning too she had rolled over onto her back breathing deeply through her nose. With the way her day had gone, she'd completely forgot to eat lunch... The realization made her stomach rumble unhappily. Though she tried to ignore it, her stomach only growled louder in protest of being ignored. It wasn't even close to dinner yet, that she knew. She'd have to wait a few hours if she wanted to wait until then. But why would she want to do that? Though her bed _was_ pretty comfortable. It was a difficult choice, lay in bed and try to sleep as her stomach growled or stand up and see what Berwald was making that smelled so good...

The sweet smell only grew as time passed making her choice in the end quite obvious...

Standing in the hallway she peaked into the kitchen watching as Berwald moved some sausages around. The action of him cooking was sweet, they didn't know each other and he had no reason to do it, but he was cooking for her. Still, that didn't stop the well of irritation from rising up, she was suppose to be doing all the work. This was _**her**_ house, she knew how to take care of herself and guests! She didn't need help, she didn't need him taking up all her chores. Frowning she stared down at her feet, swaying back and forth in place watching her dress sway with her taking slow breathes and trying to categorize her feelings. It was strange that an action like this was calming her, making her head seem less pained none of the other thoughts of who why and how seemed important.

"' _Take things one at a time you little urchin- stop trying to take the world by storm and break your problems into manageable pieces.'_ "

Hearing her grandpa's voice in her head made her laugh, even after all those years he stilled referred to her as a dirty little child. Not in any way to be offensive, it was the truth. She had a nasty habit of coming inside as if she fought some wild animal, hair a mess and puffed up from the heat with twigs and whatnot within them as her knees bled. Her face almost intimately knew the ground by then but back then it hadn't mattered one bit what she looked like as long as she was able to explore her grandpa's land and search for secrets in the woods.

With a soft little sigh, (she felt she had done that far too often today) she made her way fully into the kitchen, veering off to the side suddenly when she decided to sit where she set up the small table and chairs in the open kitchen instead of sitting on the couch on the other side of the room. There was a dining room but she left it alone, for the most part, there was no reason to use it when she didn't have anyone over. It was only used for family gatherings and holidays which now were unlikely to happen anytime soon as her grandpa was the only reason the family truly ever got together again.

Settling down she folded her arms, resting her head onto her forearm mentally ranking the problems in her head and which one she should make a priority. Suddenly gaining a housemate without a job was a problem. While she had money it didn't mean she was rolling in it thankfully she only had to pay for water and electricity- the house having been paid off a long time ago. Though things were still tight enough as is with just her around, her harvest wasn't even ready yet! Sure she had the strawberries ready as she recently picked them but she couldn't go into town with just those now could she? It wouldn't do well to just not go through... It would be better to try her luck then to stay at home and not try to sell them, no to mention they could go bad! she still needed to get those to market sometime this wee-

"Sorry gramps," she mumbled to herself realizing she was going on tangents once more and losing focus in the whole, 'take things one at a time' bit. Attempting to get back on track her thoughts turned stern, 'So I suddenly have a new housemate who I have to take care of and possibly come up with a backstory for him to tell the whole town. What will I do when Alex comes over on Saturday- or god forbid the pink pixie decides to take Friday off to come and see me. I only have two days left before she comes by- how could she tell her? Alex would believe me if I bluntly tell her, that he's Sweden from Hetalia, right?'

"God I sound insane," she muttered shaking her head and combing her fingers through her hair in a nervous gesture. She didn't want to lie to her, Alex was her best friend and she trusted her with everything. Alex would tell her if she ended up in the same situation she was positive of this, she was just worried Alex would become overzealous and try to ask how she got him and try to buy her own. The thought of Alex having America and Russia in the same house made her gut clench. That was a disaster waiting to happen and knowing Alex she'd do it without thinking, wanting her favorite ship in the same house forgetting the fact that America and Russia hated each other's guts. How one could forget about the cold war in this day in age was a mystery.

Pushing that nightmare aside next on the list... Finding Berwald a job...

* * *

Maria was grumbling to herself and thinking deeply again, the sight of it made Berwald sigh and want to go over there and massage her head. It was painful just looking at her hunched over form and he had to wonder just what thoughts were causing this pain. He could swear just looking at her made his own head, ache and that was saying something.

Turning off the stovetop, he moved the pan towards the sink setting the still-hot pan next to it while he reached up for two plates bringing them down and setting them on the counter before grabbing a fork and skewering a hot sausage setting it down on the plate repeating this process until the sausages were evenly distributed. Turning around he leaned against the counter, watching the woman with heavy-lidded tired eyes. All at once he felt old but also timeless, living for so long could do that to a person, make them feel as if they had learned everything they needed to know only to be proven wrong time and time again.

He decided he made the right choice after noticing her eyes light up once the sugary treat was done. Berwald wouldn't lie, seeing her smiling face made his chest well up with pride. He was the one to do that, to make her smile like that. His lips quirked up into a small smile watching her stuff her face with the cinnamon roll her cheeks puffed out with how much food she stuffed in them. He almost felt like laughing at her enthusiastic eating, after all, there was a bit of mess on the corner of her lip he was content to not tell her though and watch on fondly.

Maria appeared to forget about everything else around her fully enjoying the meal that was cooked for her. He had to wonder just how long had it been since she had someone cook for her? It reminded her of her mom's cooking- momma was an awful cook but mom was by far the best while her dad was second place compared to her.

She wouldn't admit it out loud but... Maybe, just maybe it would all be okay.

* * *

 **Authors Note: BAM ANOTHER UPDATE! So yes flashback time I suppose? I felt that there needed to be a little something to show her relationship with her grandfather. Not to mention that memories of dead loved ones come upon you at the most random of times and the memories themselves can be random as well. I recently lost a family member and I find myself thinking about them suddenly, it is without thought that they appear in my head. Sometimes it's a simple item that triggers a memory, or a word- even food and I am brought back to happier times; which only makes my soul ache more now that I know I am unable to share my future with them. Maria is going through the same things I am in this moment in time. Unlike Maria, I have accepted shoulders to lean on while she still tries to be the strong brick wall and distance herself from her family so she doesn't appear weak.**

 **This _will_ come back to bite her in the ass. **

**Maybe I shouldn't be giving that away so soon...**

 ** _Hullanta:_ Once again thank you for your kind review! I wanted to be a bit more proactive with asking for reviews but I cannot lie, I was a tad nervous I would be seen as whiny for asking for it as many people expect writers to update, 'just because.' I'm sure every writer has had the experience of writing something they love but losing steam when the only comments they received were, 'please continue' Not that, that comment in itself is bad, _per se_ , but it grows old fast when it's the only thing in your reviews**

 **I'm thankful to have someone else agree with me on this. One of the main reasons on why I didn't want to have a ship for this story was my distaste of how others immediately expect a guy and a girl to get together without any true relationship building on their part. It's expected that once a man and woman make eye contact they are destined to be together while in the LGBTQ community both partners could have tremendous relationship growth only to be categorized as, 'best friends' or 'like a sibling.'** **I'll come right out and say it, it irritates me greatly. (That is another rant for later as I am getting off track...)** **The main purpose of this story when I first posted it in 2018 was to prove a point. That guys and gals don't have to be romantically interested in one another to care about one another. They don't have to be related by blood to feel like a family, or have some sort of romance to care for each other's well being. I just don't get what's up with that or how society views adoption as the last resort if you can't have your own children? (that was random but it along with poly are the two things I believe media has done dirty. Then again when hasn't Hollywood and mainstream media screwed up?)**

 **I won't lie and say I didn't think about shipping for a bit, (As that in itself would be hypocrisy) but that was only done in the really early stages of the story before I even knew what to name it or even to add the androids aspect! If folks are curious the end game ship was going to be Sweden/Maria/Finland. Poly ships are far and few in between and at the time I was thinking of writing my portrayal of a healthy poly relationship as that's rarely done or if done, done _well_. I was planning on saying done right but that feels a bit pretentious now doesn't it? As everyone's right and wrong is different from someone else's, just like how relationships are all vastly different from one another. **

**_Raven_ : Maria's sexuality isn't something that's set in stone. She, like every other human on this big blue hell ball, are forever changing. She hasn't truly settled down with something that she likes but her track record is mostly women, (as she felt connecting to them was easier) While she does find men attractive she is far too nervous to get involved with one and _rightfully_ so as well.**

 **Hm, I suppose you could call it that? It was an out of body experience for him, where he recognized he was talking but he didn't fully comprehend the memories in his head nor the words he was saying, (due to damage from before)** **Think of it this way. You know how when someone asks you a question, and you know you heard them but the words just don't connect in your head? That's what Sweden was going through when he started talking about being activated, tested, and whatnot.**

 **You weren't forcing a ship you were just giving an opinion, while unlikely of it happening., (no hard feelings here I hope) it's still valid.**


End file.
